From 0 to 8 Rentals in Just 4 Months!

[Ehab Shoukry]

Hi all -

I've been a long time lurker on BP and am happy to say I've listened to every Podcast and read as many posts as I can.  My passion for real estate started with rehabbing because I love turning old run down properties into updated homes that families can enjoy.  I did a few rehabs back around 2002 as a hobby and then took a long hiatus from real estate.

This year I decided I wanted to get serious about investing. I hired a mentor in January to teach me how to wholesale off the MLS and quickly did two wholesale deals. I can definitely say that I don't love wholesaling but appreciate all those out there who do.

In April of this year, I was about to wholesale my third deal for a nifty $10k profit when my mentor recommended that I start building a rental portfolio.  So I purchased the house for $56k and it currently rents for $1k a month.  I quickly found a second house with very similar numbers a month later.

I continued to build relationships with realtors and was approached with a six house deal for $320k.  All the houses have been completely remodeled and have tile throughout along with updated kitchen and bathrooms.  The investor who owned them was moving to another city and didn't have the stomach to be a long distance landlord.  I just closed on those six houses which each rent for $1k a month each to bring my total to eight houses.  

Next month I'll be closing on my 9th house which is bringing me very  close to my goal of buying 10 rentals this year.  All houses are in Class C subdivisions and I purchased with 20% down loans.  

Thanks to everyone who helped answer my questions along the way and to the BP folks who share knowledge and continue to motivate through podcasts and articles.  I hope this motivates others to follow their dreams.

Happy Investing!

Ehab

[Steve Rozenberg]

That really is great how well you are doing. My only advice to you is not to get caught up in a buying frenzy. My business partner and I bought 20 homes inside of a year and half and it was a huge mistake because we just wanted to keep buying and did not make sure that the homes fit our business model. In fact we did not even have a business model which is why we had some many failures and set backs along the way.

Definitely keep going but do not fall into the well buy anything because its a great deal and I found it trap like I did. In reality only about 8-10 of my 20 were properties I should have purchased for various reasons. But all I saw was a deal and thought I needed to get it.

Again just my thoughts and my personal experience of the other-side of buying too quickly